By ED BARK
Austin-based country singer Wes Hayden is makin' the rounds
these days, tellin' everyone he's not the
"controversial Bachelorette bad boy"
depicted on the ABC show's most recent edition.

He visited WFAA8's Good Morning Texas Tuesday
morning to both plead his case on the show and in a
special "Internet extension" of an interview with
co-hosts Robert McCollum and Pat Smith.

It was fairly edgy TV, at least for the usually
soft-serving GMT. Particularly because
Hayden's pointed allegations about The
Bachelorette came on the ABC affiliate station
that carries the show in D-FW.

Hayden now says he was "set up from the very
beginning" to be the show's heel. His contract with
ABC amounted to "pretty much signing my life away,"
he said. "It pretty much says, 'Hey, we can do
whatever we want to you. We can distort your
character in any way."

There's even a "suicide clause" in the contract,
Hayden said, absolving ABC of any liability in case a
contestant ends up taking his or her life after being
humiliated.

Of course no one forced Hayden to wade into the
reality show cesspool, which he didn't do to "get
fame," he insists.

It hasn't stopped him, though, from offering a
download of the song he did for Jillian Harris on
The Bachelorette before getting booted. It's
available on his official website.

Here's GMT's Internet-only continuation of
Hayden's back-of-the-hand to The Bachelorette.

By ED BARK
Dallas native Lauren Przybyl, currently an
anchor-reporter at NBC affiliate WHDH-TV in Boston,
will be joining Fox4's Good Day as the
program's new co-anchor, informed sources tell
unclebarky.com.

Przybyl is slated to replace Megan Henderson, who
left the program in late February to join KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.

A phone call to Fox4 news director Maria Barrs was
returned by a "station spokesperson" who said, "We
have nothing to announce right now."

Przybyl, a graduate of Baylor
University, worked at Belo-owned TXCN in Dallas
and KCTF-TV in Waco before moving to KTXS-TV in
Abilene. Her next stop was KOB-TV in Albuquerque,
N.M. before she arrived at Boston's WHDH in
Spring, 2004.

Fox4 has been rotating in-house anchors on Good
Day since Henderson's departure, with Natalie
Solis, Dan Godwin, Krystle Gutierrez and Adrian
Arambulo all joining veteran incumbent anchor Tim
Ryan in the past five months. Good Day has
fallen behind NBC5 in the 6 a.m. ratings race but
still regularly beats the three network morning shows
from 7 to 9 a.m.

Fox4's search for a permanent Good Day
co-anchor has been a closely guarded secret. It is
not known when Przybyl will join Ryan, but September
would be a likely startup month.

Her WHDH bio says that Przybyl often hears, "Would
you like to buy a vowel?" The bio also says that
she's previously appeared on NBC's Today show,
MSNBC, CNN and the Weather Channel.

One of her competitors in D-FW will be WFAA8 early
morning co-anchor Cynthia Izaguirre, whose last name
also is no picnic to pronounce.

Przybyl's mother is Lin Przybyl, longtime manager of
the Colleyville Center. A January 31,
2003 article on the Przybyls says that Lauren was
24 at the time.

By ED BARK
Local actor, comedian and voice-over specialist
Robert McCollum is the new male co-host of Good
Morning Texas, replacing the reassigned Gary
Cogill, Dallas-based WFAA8 announced Sunday.

McCollum will quickly dive in. His first day on
GMT, which airs at 9 a.m. weekdays, will be on
Monday, July 27th.

"After living and working in the area for more than
15 years, Rob knows D-FW and brings an interesting
creative spark to GMT," the program's
executive producer, Dave Muscari, said in a publicity
release. "The fact that he's a dad also helps him
connect to the concerns of the many parents among
GMT viewers. I think our audience will enjoy
his warmth and sense of humor."

McCollum joins holdover co-host Amy Vanderoef, who
recently became a first-time mom. The show also
features Paige McCoy Smith in "Not-So-Perfect-Parent"
segments as well as mini-infomercials in which guests
pay WFAA8 to promote their products during interview
segments.

Cogill, who will still occasionally appear on
GMT, has been named WFAA8's performing arts
reporter while also continuing to review movies for
the station.

"Performing arts in Texas deserves comprehensive
reporting," WFAA8 president and general manager Mike
Devlin said in a statement. "Sports teams grab
headlines. However, on any given night just as many,
or even more people attend a significant number of
concerts, movies, theater, museums and other cultural
happenings in D-FW."

Cogill has been with WFAA8 since the early 1990s.
McCollum has done voice-over work
for commercials (Taco Bueno, the Texas lottery),
corporate films and numerous cartoons, including
Dragon Ball Z. He's also been in some
locally produced plays and has a handful of film
credits, among them the 2003 NBC movie Saving
Jessica Lynch, which was shot in North Texas.

His most recent film credit, 2009's Angela's
Body, is described as a "tragic tale of one
woman's descent into postpartum psychosis that ends
with terrifying consequences." McCollum plays her
doctor.

By ED BARK
D-FW-based CBS11 (KTVT) is getting what it wanted
from the Federal Communications Commission -- and at
WARP speed.

The oft-slow moving government body has said yes to
the station's "urgent" request earlier this month
that its post-analog digital signal for over-the-air
viewers be switched from the allocated Channel 11 to
Channel 19. The switch will take effect on Monday,
August 4th, with CBS11's sister station, TXA21,
moving from Channel 19 to Channel 18 on that same
date. The Channel 11 frequency also will continue to
be used, director of engineering Don Dobbs says in a
memo to staffers. And there's a pending proposal that
TXA21 be moved yet again, from Channel 18 to Channel
29.

As previously reported on
unclebarky.com, CBS11 had cited thousands of
viewer complaints and significant ratings losses
after the federal government-mandated
analog-to-digital transition on June 12th. Many
North Texans without cable or satellite
capabilities were unable to get the station's
allocated Channel 11 digital signal, the petition
to the FCC said.

Viewers relying on converter boxes and antennas will
have to "rescan" their televisions to receive Channel
19. Dobbs said that CBS11 will run announcements and
on-screen "crawls" leading up to the changeover. The
station also is planning a "Countdown Clock" that
will start ticking at 11:45 a.m. on August 4th.

That will leave WFAA8 as the only remaining major
D-FW broadcast station with a VHF band signal in the
digital age. The station's Channel 8 digital
frequency is working fine and there are no current
plans to petition the FCC for a UHF frequency, WFAA
management says.

By ED BARK
Co-anchor Karen Borta had no discernible edge to her
voice when she threw it to reporter Bud Gillett at
the top of Thursday's 5 p.m. CBS11 newscast.

Less than eight hours earlier, CBS11 management had
issued its official response to Gillett's bluntly worded discrimination
lawsuit against the station. The suit is
"completely unfounded and we intend to fight it
vigorously," the CBS-owned station said. (Both the
suit and the station's response were first
reported on unclebarky.com.)

Then it was business as usual, at least in terms of
what viewers saw on home screens. Gillett returned to
work -- resuming his regular Thursday through Monday
schedule. And he led CBS11's 5 p.m. news with a live
report on a murder-suicide in Midlothian. No muss, no
fuss.

Many of his co--workers, particularly the station's
minority women reporters, obviously have a different
view after being singled out in the lawsuit as
undeserving of the air time and visibility they're
supposedly getting at Gillett's expense. According to
the lawsuit, it's because he's "an older, white,
male, born-in-the-U.S.A. reporter" who's been locked
into a "dead-end career" that includes working on
both Saturdays and Sundays.

Management has to be exceedingly careful in such
cases. And although no one will talk on the record,
this much is clear:

***Gillett, 60, almost assuredly will not be
fired because that would only fan the flames of his
lawsuit.

***He could be offered a buyout that would
have to be authorized at the corporate level. But of
course Gillett in turn would have to drop his
lawsuit. In companion materials provided by his
attorney, Hal K. Gillespie, Gillett contends that
before he filed his suit, CBS11 was "prepared to
offer me a 'package' if I wanted to leave." But
Gillett, who joined the station in September 2001
after a long career at Dallas-based KDFW-TV (Channel
4), insists that he wants to stay at CBS11 and "grow
in my career."

***This could take a long time, and under very
unusual circumstances. It's very rare -- and I can't
think of a precedent in D-FW -- for a reporter or
anchor to continue working at his or her station
while a lawsuit of this kind is pending.

Former WFAA8 anchor Scott Sams, now with CBS11,
already had been dropped by his station when he
sued for discrimination shortly
after his September 2004 dismissal. In January of
2007 he was awarded a partial judgment of
$600,000, with both sides claiming victory.

Former Fox4 reporter Rebecca Aguilar was immediately
taken off the air, in October 2007, after her
controversial interview of an elderly man who had
shot and killed two intruders at his junkyard.
Aguilar's subsequent discrimination suit against the
station, filed in January of this year, is
scheduled to go to court in July, 2010, she says.

***Gillett is likely to be a pariah -- and
understandably so -- among many of his co-workers.
Maybe it's not easy being an ordinary looking, older
white guy in a telegenic medium. But some of the
language in Gillett's lawsuit makes him seem more
like a jingoistic Neanderthal than a justice-seeker.
Including this passage: "Defendants (CBS11) have a
pattern of giving preferred assignments to Hispanic
and foreign born employees and less preferable work
to Caucasian, born in the United States, older male
employees."

Five of Gillett's CBS11 colleagues are singled out as
basically inferior to him. News director Scott Diener
also is said to have "threatened" Gillett by calling
him "bitter." These are wounds that won't heal,
regardless of how all of this comes out.

Bottom line: I've long respected Gillett, and
said so in these spaces, as a
solid, professional reporter whose work is largely
unheralded. But he was already nearing 53 when
CBS11 hired him -- and put him on the weekends he
now so despises. He had left Channel 4 in 2000
after 22 years at the station. There was no
bidding war for him.

Television, as are other workplaces, can be a cruel
mistress. And yes, there are a lot of big jerks in
management. But Gillett is not exactly a bright,
shining rising star in a medium where looks,
diversity and attracting a young audience long have
been facts of life.

Simply put, he's got a full-time, no doubt decently
paying job in the country's fifth largest TV market.
Maybe it's no bed of roses, but Gillett is deluding
himself if he thinks his best days as a reporter are
ahead of him. Yeah, his experience should count for a
lot. But it's not a lifetime pass anymore -- in any
line of work.

His lawsuit says that Gillett's "unfavorable
schedule, modest exposure and lack of promotion are
the death knell to a successful, award-winning
reporter's career. Working a weekend schedule for an
extended period of time hamper's a reporter's ability
to obtain another position. An unfavorable schedule
for a reporter is far more than a mere inconvenience
or a petty indignity. The weekend schedule
marginalizes Gillett's work because weekend
assignments take him out of the regular business
week."

And so on. News flash. Life isn't fair. But overall,
life has been pretty good to Bud Gillett. So it's sad
to see him go out this way. Win, lose or draw on his
lawsuit, he's done himself no favors. In the end, no
one likes a bitter beer face.

By ED BARK
Veteran CBS11 reporter Bud Gillett, via a sharply
worded lawsuit filed Tuesday in Dallas County
District Court, has charged the station with
retaliation and reverse discrimination based on his
age, sex, race and national origin.

Gillett, who is 60, joined CBS11 in September 2001
after a long career as a street reporter at
Dallas-based KDFW-TV (Channel 4). As of this writing,
he remains employed at CBS11 (KTVT), with his picture
and biography still in place on the station's
cbs11tv.com website. The lawsuit
says that Gillett has a "strong desire" to remain
with CBS11 and to "grow in his career." But a
long-term future may not be in the cards given the
blunt charges he's made against station
management.

In an 11-page suit filed by his attorney, Hal K. Gillespie, Gillett alleges
that he has been systematically shunted to
weekends (he currently works a Thursday through
Monday schedule), repeatedly bypassed for
promotion and denied a spot on the station's late
night newscasts. Meanwhile, minorities and far
less-experienced reporters routinely have been
promoted ahead of him, the lawsuit alleges.

"The 10:00 PM newscast is the newscast of record in
Dallas-Fort Worth," the lawsuit says. "To compete at
the top level, a reporter needs to provide stories
for the 10:00 PM broadcast. Just as there is more
than one way to skin a cat, management in the news
business can put an older, white, male, born-in-the
U.S.A. reporter out to pasture and in a dead end
career by locking him into an unfavorable schedule.
Defendants have deliberately done this to Gillett."

Of CBS11's five principal 10 p.m. reporters, three
are middle-aged white men (J.D. Miles, Jay Gormley,
Jack Fink) and two are women over 40 years of age
(Carol Cavazos and Katherine Blake). Stephanie
Lucero, who is over 50, also is a regular
contributor.

CBS11 president and general manager Steve Mauldin
said Thursday morning, "I really can't comment on it
right now." But he said an official response was
being prepared for release later Thursday. Here's the
CBS11 statement: "This lawsuit is completely
unfounded and we intend to fight it vigorously."

Gillett, named as Wayne "Bud" A. Gillett, Jr. in the
suit, has not returned a phone call and email asking
for further comment. But his lawsuit is unequivocal
in its claims that "defendants have locked Gillett
into an unfavorable schedule and afforded him modest
exposure and lack of promotion, all on account of his
age, sex, national origin and gender."

While Gillett is the only full-time contracted
reporter working both Saturdays and Sundays, CBS11
has assigned "superior schedules to similarly
situated employees who are younger, female, Hispanic,
or of foreign origin," the lawsuit contends.
"Defendants have a pattern of giving preferred
assignments to younger, female employees and less
preferable work to older employees."

The lawsuit names names, contending that CBS11
reporters Cavazos, Lucero (who also was a colleague
of Gillett's at KDFW-TV), Marianne Martinez, Arezow
Doost and Selena Hernandez have all been given better
work schedules and more visibility than the
plaintiff.

When Gillett sought to improve his schedule, he was
"ignored" and in one instance, dismissed as "bitter,"
his lawsuit charges.

"It sounds as if he's filed a lawsuit just because he
doesn't want to work weekends," said a local
television executive who has seen the lawsuit and
requested anonymity. "If this went to trial and he
won, what would that do to the rest of the industry?"

The executive also wondered how Gillett's minority
and women colleagues would react to the lawsuit, and
whether they'd be comfortable working with him.

In December of last year, Gillett filed a charge of
discrimination with the Civil Rights Division of the
Texas Workforce Commission. He then tried to meet
with management to "resolve the issue" before any
lawsuit was filed, according to companion documents
sent to unclebarky.com by attorney Gillespie.

"Management would not even meet with Bud to discuss
his issues," Gillespie said in an email.

Gillespie also represented Scott Sams, currently the
co-anchor of CBS11's early morning newscasts, in his
discrimination lawsuit against WFAA8 after he was
dropped by the Dallas-based station in 2004. Sams
eventually received $600,000 in back pay, damages and
attorneys' fees, although both sides claimed victory.

Gillett's lawsuit says he is seeking a Monday through
Friday work schedule at CBS11 plus compensatory,
punitive and economic damages, and attorneys' fees.

He is described in the lawsuit as an award-winning
reporter whose career and dignity have been
compromised "despite his great experience and strong
work ethic."

His own station's website bio begins with a testament
to his durability, describing Gillett as "the most
veteran reporter at CBS11 News with 33 years in major
market television news, the last 26 years working the
streets of Dallas/Fort Worth."

By ED BARK
Citing a "massive decline" in ratings and "thousands
of complaints" from viewers after the June 12th
transition from analog to digital, D-FW's CBS11
(KTVT) has an "urgent" request before the Federal
Communications Commission. Namely, the station wants
a new frequency in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

This is where it gets a bit complicated unless you're
an engineer or otherwise well-schooled in
"post-transition digital allotments." But CBS11's
petition to the FCC, a copy of which has been
obtained by unclebarky.com, is crystal-clear in
charting the audience losses the station has suffered
at the dawning of the digital age.

Since the transition, KTVT "has received several
thousand telephone calls and email messages from
viewers complaining about the difficulties receiving
its signal," the station says. "The majority of these
complaints are from viewers who utilize 'rabbit ears'
and other indoor antenna systems, and who live more
than 15 miles from the KTVT transmitter site . . .
While KTVT has attempted to help these viewers
receive its signal, it has become apparent that their
reception problems are not susceptible of a ready
cure."

Using Nielsen Media Research figures, CBS11's
petition says the station's over-the-air prime-time
(7 to 10 p.m.) ratings dropped 57 percent from the
pre-digital week of June 1st to the post-digital week
of June 22nd. But among viewers with digital-friendly
cable, the dropoff was just 1.9 percent, CBS11 says.

"There is only one possible explanation for an
over-the-air ratings decline of this magnitude over a
few short weeks and without any significant change in
programming," the station says. "Quite simply, large
numbers of over-the-air viewers are no longer able to
receive KTVT's signal."

Hoping to change this picture before the start of the
fall season, CBS11 is asking the FCC to grant use of
Channel 19 as its post-transition frequency for
non-cable or satellite subscribers using converter
boxes to get the station's signal.

KTVT was allotted Channel 11 as its post-digital
frequency, but that's been a disaster, the station
says. Its sister station, TXA21, allotted Channel 19
by the FCC, instead would use Channel 18 if KTVT's
petition is granted. The petition was filed on July
16th.

Maybe this is enough to make many a reader's head
spin. But the stakes are high, particularly in a fall
season in which CBS will combat NBC's
Monday-to-Friday, 9 p.m. Jay Leno show with four
proven crime series -- CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, The
Mentalist, Numb3rs -- and the promising new legal
drama The Good Wife, starring Julianna
Margulies. Every fraction of a rating point counts
under such circumstances.

Monday's prime-time ratings weren't that bad for
CBS11, though. The station easily won the 9 p.m. hour
in total viewers with a CSI: Miami repeat. It
also topped the 8 to 9 p.m. slot with reruns of
Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang
Theory. And its 7 to 8 p.m. reprises of How I
Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement
were a close second to ABC's "Men Tell All" recap of
The Bachelorette.

Would those numbers be better if CBS11 is granted a
new post-analog frequency to serve viewers relying on
converter boxes?

KXAS-TV, now NBC5, used to be WBAP-TV
until a call-letter change in 1974. Here's video of
the 1969 introduction of WBAP's 6 p.m. newscast, a
very spare affair featuring Jerry Desmond and Russ
Bloxom at the anchor desk with Harold Taft drawing
weather maps on the right-hand side of home screens.
Unlike the photo above, it's in living color -- and
fully sponsored.
Ed Bark

Colin Zwirko (center) with "Plano 3" mates, and
father Walt Zwirko, a veteran WFAA8 staffer.
Viewers weren't told of the connection during
WFAA8's coverage of the boys' misadventures in
Ireland.

By ED BARK
WFAA8's substantial coverage of three Plano youths
who have become overnight celebrities in
Ireland so far is missing at least one
relevant fact. The group's spokesman, 21-year-old
Colin Zwirko, is the son of WFAA8's Walt Zwirko, a
25-year employee who produces and hosts the weekly
Computer Corner segments on the station's
newscasts and wfaa.com.

WFAA8 news director Michael Valentine, informed of
the omission Friday, said it was an error in
judgment.

"We should have said it was his son," Valentine
acknowledged. "I don't know why we didn't. I don't
have a better explanation, other than we screwed up.
It's our policy to disclose that information."

Valentine also noted that "Walt is not an employee of
mine. But it doesn't matter. We still screwed up."

Walt Zwirko is, however, pictured as part of the
station's "News Team" on wfaa.com.

Colin Zwirko and friends Gavin Sides and Ben
Whitehurst had landed at Dublin Airport earlier this
month to begin a backpack trip through Western
Europe. Instead they were held in a detention cell
because they supposedly lacked proper documentation
on where they planned to stay in Dublin and how they
were paying their expenses.

The trio then were forced to take a Delta flight back
home at a price of $1,900 each, according to reports
by WFAA8 and The Dallas Morning News, who
remain synergistic partners despite the split of
Dallas-based owner Belo into two "separate" entities.
Young Zwirko and his two friends since have been
offered an all expenses paid trip back to Ireland by
one of the country's hotel chains.

"The 'Plano 3' (as they have been dubbed in the Irish
media) have received requests for interviews and
audio diaries and a radio advertising campaign will
be run in their honor," WFAA8 reported on its Web
site.

Colin Zwirko, who contended that he and his friends
were "treated like criminals," made a video of their
experiences that ran in part during WFAA8 newscasts.
But the station never mentioned the other WFAA8
connection.

Questions about Colin Zwirko's possible ties to WFAA8
were emailed to unclebarky.com by a reader. A
commenter on dallasnews.com also raised the issue, with Dallas
Morning News reporter Theodore Kim responding,
"Good/perceptive question. The answer is yes. He
is the son of Walt. In fact, it was WFAA that
first reported the story. We followed up on it and
then it went viral, so to speak."

WFAA8 in the past has identified relationships of
news subjects to station staffers, most notably late
last year during a murder investigation in which
sports anchor Dale Hansen's son,
Eric, was questioned for informational
purposes.

Eric Hansen was never a suspect in the death of
Dallas realtor Jeanmarie Tolle and her two sons, but
had been dating her for the past few months. Both
The Dallas Morning News and WFAA8 reporter
Jonathan Betz identified him as Hansen's son in
separate reports.

There's another irony in The Dallas Morning
News' reporting on the "Plano 3." As Kim noted on
the newspaper's web site, "our own Matthew Haag
continues his relentless coverage" of the
story.

Haag, who covers Plano schools for the paper, is the
son of the late Marty Haag, who led WFAA8 to national
prominence and local ratings dominance during his
long tenure as the station's news director.

By ED BARK
Brian Curtis joined Jane McGarry on Thursday's 10
p.m. newscast, marking his first appearance as Mike
Snyder's official replacement.

Not that you'd know it. There were no welcomes or
acknowledgments from McGarry, meteorologist David
Finfrock and substitute sports anchor Randy McIlwain.
Instead, Curtis and McGarry dutifully plowed through
23 stories plus an end-of-newscast "kicker" before
giving way as usual to Conan O'Brien's Tonight
Show. McGarry tripped over words a couple of
times; Curtis was smooth as silk.

"We thought about a welcome but decided not to do
anything formal," Susan Tully, vice president of
content development for NBC5, explained via email.

Curtis, who will continue to co-anchor the station's
4 p.m. newscasts, joined NBC5 in 2003. Snyder, who
had teamed with McGarry for 19 years at 10 p.m.,
remains as co-anchor of the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts
after taking a substantial salary cut to continue at
the station.

Thursday's 10 p.m. newscast also came and went
without any of those obligatory "live" shots from
reporters standing in the dark. Was that also a way
to cut expenses as Curtis began co-piloting? Tully
said it was pure happenstance.

"All the live trucks had technical issues last
night," she said. "We planned for live; sometimes it
just doesn't happen. If it went flawlessly and you
thought it was planned that way, you have given us a
compliment! Sometimes it gets ugly on air when live
trucks go down."

By ED BARKBrian Curtis, who joined NBC5 in
2003 and currently co-anchors the station's
First at Four newscasts, will replace Mike
Snyder on the 10 p.m. editions.

Susan Tully, the station's vice president of content
development, confirmed Curtis' promotion Wednesday
after NBC5's staff was informed on Tuesday.

"No formal news release," she said in an email to
unclebarky.com. "We wanted to make sure that Mike was
given the courtesy of having the focus of the day be
on his decision."

Curtis, who's been on vacation, will join incumbent
Jane McGarry this Thursday on the station's 10 p.m.
newscasts, Tully said. He'll also continue to anchor
at 4 p.m.

A recent post below had handicapped the in-house
field at NBC5, with Curtis' plusses and minuses
weighed along with those of NBC5's Brendan Higgins
and Scott Friedman. We'll leave that in place for
discussion purposes.

Snyder, who had anchored 10 p.m. newscasts with
McGarry for 19 years, will still team with her at 6
p.m. and also co-anchor 5 p.m. editions.

Curtis previously worked at TV stations in Kansas
City, Birmingham, Ala., Grand Rapids, Mich. and
Columbia, Miss. He was named the "Best News Anchor"
of 2007 by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters,
according to his NBC5 bio.

By ED BARK
Hyperactive NBC5 sportscaster Matt Barrie -- but hey,
he's growing on me -- found himself the only man in
the house on Tuesday's 10 p.m. NBC5 newscast. He
quickly swung from the lip.

"Me and the trio of female anchors will be back after
the break!" said Barrie, flashing a satisfied
thumbs-up to the accompaniment of off-camera male
laughter.

So began the Fort Worth-based station's post-Mike Snyder era, at least in
the late night arena. Kristi Nelson, co-anchor of
NBC5's First at Four newscast, stepped in
for Snyder, Samantha Davies subbed for
meteorologist David Finfrock and Jane McGarry
continued her 19-year run as 10 p.m. co-anchor.

Obviously this is temporary. But how long will NBC5
wait until announcing a permanent (as far as these
things go) replacement for Snyder, who's downshifted
against his will (despite the news release
pronouncements) to the 5 and 6 p.m. editions?

Currently running third in the 10 p.m. total viewer
ratings, NBC5 presumably will give McGarry a new
partner before the scheduled Sept. 14 premiere of
The Jay Leno Show, which will occupy the
weekday 9 to 10 p.m. slot in one of the riskiest
moves in network TV history. There's a very slim
possibility that McGarry could fly solo, but that
might be even riskier.

Prime candidates for the job appear to be three
in-house staffers, all of whom are currently
anchoring at other hours. In no particular order,
let's handicap the field:

NBC5's Brendan Higgins, Brian Curtis and Scott
Friedman

BRENDAN HIGGINS (co-anchor of
early morning newscasts)

Upside: Quick on his feet and glibbest of the
three. Graying mane might be a better match for aging
Jane.
Downside: NBC5 has shot back to No. 1 in the
key early morning ratings, with Higgins and Deborah
Ferguson an appealing, seasoned team. Why would you
mess with that?

BRIAN CURTIS (co-anchor of First at
Four newscasts)

Upside: Personable, exceedingly telegenic and
a smooth operator with a TelePrompTer.
Downside: Not that this necessarily matters
any more, but he'd be the softest reporter ever to
ascend to this market's showcase newscast. On Tuesday
night he did a story on a new wrinkle reliever. Also
specializes in lightweight "Big Fat Savings"
features. Might look a little too young next to Jane,
but could pass for baby brother.

SCOTT FRIEDMAN (anchor of early morning
weekend newscasts)

Upside: Not that this necessarily matters any
more, but he easily has the strongest reporting
credentials of this group. In fact he's one of the
market's best. Solid behind a desk, too, and can be
congenial when required.
Downside: May like reporting too much to take
a job in which it's really not a requirement unless
NBC5 decides to return to the old days of
long-forgotten early '80s anchor Dave Layman. He once
told your friendly content provider, "My thing is
traipsing through weeds, knocking on doors and
covering a story. That's what I enjoy doing. The
anchoring to me is secondary, much to the
disgruntlement of management sometimes." Management
eventually responded by firing him.

JANE MCGARRY -- as a solo act.

Upside: It'd be lots cheaper in the long run.
So why not get viewers used to the idea now?
Downside: Boy-girl anchor teams long have been
a staple of local newscasts, particularly in late
night. Too many viewers might be put off their feed
at a time when the impending Leno initiative already
has Peacock station managers sweating like sumo
wrestlers in a sauna.

By ED BARK
Former Miss Missouri USA Candice Crawford, sister of actor
Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), is joining
Dallas-based KDAF-TV (Ch. 33) as a reporter
specializing in high school sports.

Lubbock-born and Dallas-raised, Crawford won the Miss
Missouri competition in 2008. She also will be
helping to develop a high school sports section on
"The 33's" website, sources say.

Crawford, 22, earlier appeared on D-FW's CBS11 as a
Dallas Cowboys chronicler for The Blitz. She
later placed among the 10 finalists in last year's
Miss USA pageant and also finished third runnerup in
both the 2003 and 2005 Miss Texas Teen USA
competitions.

While studying journalism and business at the
University of Missouri, Crawford worked for NBC
station KOMU-TV as a news and sports reporter.

Here's one of Crawford's earlier Cowboys locker room
reports for The Blitz. Below that you can see
her talking to the TV Guide network as Miss Missouri
USA. Take your pick.

By ED BARK
It's official. NBC5 anchor Mike Snyder confirmed
Tuesday morning that Monday was his last night as
the regular co-anchor of the Fort Worth-based
station's 10 p.m. newscasts.

It ends a 17-year run with Jane McGarry, who will
remain on the late night broadcasts while Snyder
teams with her at 6 p.m. and also co-anchors the 5
p.m. news.

"Am I gonna miss doing the 10 o'clock news? Yeah,
greatly," Snyder said in a telephone interview from
his home. "I'm not really sad. Sad's not the word.
I'm melancholy about leaving the audience at 10
o'clock, but I continue what I think I do best . . .
And for the first time in my television career, I'm
going to get to do something that I've never done. I
get to have dinner during the week at home with my
family."

Snyder, 56, and his wife, Lyn, have two daughters,
ages 7 and 9.

Snyder said he signed a new contract with NBC5 -- "I
can't say how long it is, but it's not a long-term
contract" -- roughly 15 minutes before Monday's 5
p.m. newscast. He had just returned from vacationing
with his family in Missouri.

As previously reported on
unclebarky.com, Snyder had been aware that
changes would be coming at NBC5, which like many
TV stations around the country is downsizing and
cutting costs. The veteran anchor, who joined NBC5
in spring 1980, declined to discuss his new salary
arrangement with the station and also said he
doesn't know who his successor might be.

"They haven't discussed that with me at all," Snyder
said. "I'm not sure what the plans are."

McGarry will continue as a 10 p.m. anchor, presumably
with a partner.

"I think the audience prefers having two voices,"
Snyder said. "And I think it broadens the audience. I
think it would be odd if it were a single anchor, but
anything's possible in this financial landscape."

NBC5's Brian Curtis, who co-anchors the station's 4
p.m. newscasts, subbed for Snyder while he was on
vacation. Station management so far has not commented
on who might be joining McGarry.

Snyder praised NBC5 president and general manager
Thomas Ehlmann, who joined the
station almost a year ago from WGN-TV in Chicago.

"He's a gentleman beyond parallel," Snyder said.
"When we started our discussions and talked about
some of the options, I found him to be probably one
of the most honorable people I've ever met in the
television business. I have nothing but praise for
the way he handled the negotiations, and more
important for the opportunity he's given me to
continue contributing there . . . At least I'm able
to stay with the 5 and 6 o'clock newscasts, and
continue anchoring with Jane."

In an official statement released Tuesday morning,
NBC5 said the new deal with Snyder "will allow Mike
to work less and have more time to fulfill other
opportunities he has wanted to explore."

Ehlmann is quoted praising Snyder as "a talented
professional with a long record of achievement and
outstanding journalism."

Snyder said his short-term pact with NBC5 also gives
him "the opportunity to explore other things." He's
principally interested in returning to radio, where
Snyder was news director and morning drive time
co-anchor at Dallas-based KLIF-AM before joining
NBC5.

"I'm exploring the opportunity of being able to do
radio and still doing the news on Channel 5. That's
exciting to me," he said.

Snyder said he'll also have "more time with my
philanthropies," which include the Muscular Dystrophy
Association, the Salvation Army and the Fort Worth
Air Power Foundation.

The 17-year Snyder-McGarry partnership at 10 o'clock
had been the D-FW market's longest. Snyder says he'll
also be able to reach another milestone at NBC5 next
spring, when he'll have been at the station for 30
years.

"It's been a really good run here," he said. "I'm
eternally grateful for that."

Here's video of Snyder's emotional farewell Monday
night, during which he told a tearful and audibly
sniffling McGarry, "I have enjoyed every minute by
your side." (Unlike the previously posted nbcdfw.com
version, it includes McGarry's goodbye and their
declarations of anchorly love for one another.)

By ED BARK
Rochelle Brown and the minority-targeted program
Insights are no more at Fox4.

Insights, which endured for 29 years on the
Dallas-based station, had its last telecast on June
21st.

Brown, the show's first host and in later years its
executive producer, was let go on the following day
after more than 31 years at Fox4. She joined the
station in January 1978, pre-dating even anchor
Clarice Tinsley, who arrived later that year from a
Milwaukee station.

"It's been amazing. A lot of people don't know we're
gone yet," Brown said in a telephone interview
Thursday. "I've been getting lots of calls from the
community. People are still calling, pitching
stories. And I have to say, 'Wait a minute.' "

Brown, 60, said she wasn't told specifically why
Insights was canceled, but "I sort of expected
it. The industry is in flux right now. It's crazy.
I'm not sure what the station's rationale was
exactly, but I guess it is sort of an end of an era."

Fox4 news director Maria Barrs has not answered an
email inquiry asking for comment. The station, like
many, generally does not talk publicly about
personnel matters, except when hiring people.

The ongoing tough economy has led to cutbacks at all
of D-FW's major TV news providers. Earlier this year,
WFAA8 dropped Young Street and its staff. The
"young adult lifestyles" magazine program had
replaced La Vida and Metro, which
respectively were aimed at Hispanic and
African-American audiences.

Brown said that Insights initially "was put
together with the premise that we would be a place
for the average person to go tell a story. It was
primarily an African-American program, but as the
makeup of the city changed, we changed, too, to
include Hispanics, Asians and other nationalities."

Brown joked that she plans to "start a companion
blog, and I'm going to call it auntierose.com." But
in reality, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do," she
said. "I think this is a great opportunity to explore
some other things that I've been interested in, so
we'll see what happens."

Insights, scheduled at 8:30 a.m. Sundays on
Fox4, was hosted by veteran reporter Shaun Rabb until
its cancellation. Brown remained the executive
producer and occasionally filled in as host. Rabb
remains at Fox4.

The final June 21st Insights drew 13,286
viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers.
On the following Sunday, the infomercial that
replaced it had 3,986 viewers.

In other Fox4 developments . . . Sources say
the station has interviewed at least two applicants
from outside the station for the Good Day
co-anchor position. But the lid on this process is
tighter than Joan Rivers' face.

Fox4 has been rotating in-house Good Day
anchors since Megan Henderson left the show in late
February to join KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. Good
Day currently is running second in the early
morning ratings behind NBC5.

***Fox4's Baron James, who co-anchors the
station's 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts with Tinsley, will
be off the air for several weeks after he has surgery
to remove a growth from his larynx. His speaking
voice had been affected. James is expected to be back
at the station sometime in August.

By ED BARK
Reporter Sandra Hernandez has departed KDAF-TV ("The
33") after being hired in late 2006.

Her picture and biography already have been removed
from the KDAF website.

Hernandez previously worked at Dallas-based Fox4 as
co-anchor of the station's 5 to 6 a.m. portion of
Good Day. She then freelanced in Los Angeles
before returning to D-FW. Efforts to reach Hernandez
have so far been unsuccessful.

Hernandez joins a host of anchors and reporters who
have left the station under news director David
Duitch, who took that position a year ago after an
earlier stint as news director at WFAA8 in Dallas.

Duitch also has made a number of his own hires,
including former NBC5 meteorologist Rebecca Miller
and two "backpack journalists" who were
laid off earlier this year by The Dallas
Morning News.

KDAF, which has a nightly 9 p.m. local newscast,
recently joined in a content-sharing arrangement with
Fox4 and NBC5. The station plans to debut a 5:30 p.m.
newscast sometime this fall.

By ED BARK
WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen returned from his
month-long vacation Tuesday, also ending viewers'
respite from the almost nightly 10 p.m. newscast
hijinks between him and weathercaster Pete Delkus.

Big Pete could hardly wait to show an array of
doctored pictures depicting "Dale's Summer Vacation,"
climaxing with the above shot of the two of 'em
playing handsie in the sandsie. News anchors Gloria
Campos and John McCaa also laughed it up while your
friendly content provider wondered what more can be
said that hasn't been already.

WFAA8 isn't about to cease and desist. On the
contrary. So let 'em keep acting like goofballs, and
we'll see where it all leads. Those who claim they're
sick of their shtick should be smart enough to have
switched stations at this point. Those who eagerly
await their banter will be overjoyed to see Pete 'n'
Dale together again. As the 10 p.m. ratings get ever
closer, there's a lot riding on which side wins out.

WFAA8 also has launched a new
promotional campaign for its early morning team, with
the spotlight primarily on news anchors Cynthia
Izaguirre and relative newcomer Chris Flanagan.

The station continues to run third in this key
battleground, with NBC5 leading and Fox4 slipping to
second while continuing to rotate a series of
in-house co-anchors after the late February departure
of Megan Henderson to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles.

Judging from the above visuals, Izaguirre and
Flanagan are striving to be almost as fun-lovin' as
Pete 'n' Dale. Wow, look at 'em do "The Bump" in that
"Summer Survival Guide" logo featured on wfaa.com.

There's also the inventive tribute song performed in
honor of Izaguirre by a smitten Granbury kindergarten
teacher. Daybreak closed out a recent edition
with it while she beamed and nodded to the beat. And
frankly, after listening to it a time or three, it
sure beats another "Rumble in the Plaza" with
Hansen-Delkus. So have a look and a listen. And given
the subject matter, don't pretend you could do any
better.

By ED BARK
Susan Tully, vice president of content management for
Fort Worth-based NBC5, says the station's recent tour
of homes-for-sale was a valid news feature.

An earlier critique in these spaces derided
reporter Lindsay Wilcox's 5-part series, shown
during last week's 10 p.m. newscasts, as a thinly
disguised advertisement modeled after the
half-hour Sunday infomercial Hot On Homes.
Wilcox began the series with a tour of three homes
in the $150,000 price range and ended it with a
look at a trio of $1 million mini-manses. Area
realtors and Wilcox took turns praising the
properties during the series, which ran in the
middle of newscasts. Wilcox was assisted in
selecting the homes by the DFW Metrotex
Association of Realtors.

One commenter questioned whether NBC5 should be
investigated by the FCC. Here is Tully's defense of
the series, sent via email Tuesday:

"Home ownership among our viewers is 80% and in most
cases is the single largest investment they make in
their lives. The topic of home values does have news
value. The real estate segment was sparked by how
much we all enjoy clicking through the slide shows
found on sites like cnbc.com and wsj.com about how
much a certain price point gets you across the
nation.

"As we know, $250,000 in Texas is very different than
that price in California. With so many 'For Sale'
signs up right now, we were curious if there was a
huge difference in a price point throughout North
Texas.

"What does $150,000 buy in Mansfield compared to
Uptown? It was honestly that simple. We wanted to do
a local version, TV style. One story turned into five
because everyone working on it really enjoyed the
story and we thought a Friday night would be a fun
way to voyeuristically see inside a $1 million home.

"It's the slow summer news cycle, so we said, 'Why
not?' It was just meant to be informative and
entertaining for the 80% who own homes.

"What concerned me about the blog was how quickly
some people are to accuse us of making a pay-for-play
move. Trust me, sales wasn't even aware we were doing
the series. If a few folks don't like our stories, we
know we're not for everyone. But for them to accuse
us of FCC violations is highly offensive and uncalled
for."

Tully added that the "couponing we do" on NBC5's 4
p.m. newscasts "talks to the 4 p.m. audience, mostly
homeowners trying to stretch a dollar during a
difficult time. No sales influence, no motivation. We
did it once and the response was so good we continued
it to fill a viewer need."